Model’s short hairdo ‘cut of the moment’

The haircut of the year has arrived. Yes, already. Vogue is calling it the Chop, others have named it the Karlie, after the model Karlie Kloss.

Kloss, already a fashion world veteran at age 20, cut off about seven inches of her dark hair late last year. Vogue declared it the “cut of the moment” in a four-page feature story in the January issue, saying “the season’s new hair is swingy, sexy — and refreshingly easy to wear.”

The cut was the brainchild of the hairstylist Garren Defazio. It rests just above the shoulders, with some layering in the front, and is topped off with bangs. It echoes the signature 1960s haircut of Jane Birkin.

“I love it,” Kloss told the website Fashionologie backstage at a fashion show soon after the new cut was unveiled. “I can’t stop touching it.” She added that having short hair “actually takes the focus off your hair and puts the focus on you. I’m starting to realize that it’s all about confidence.”

Kloss, a host (with Joan Smalls, a fellow model) of MTV’s House of Style, had long hair that served as a kind of blank canvas for stylists and designers to work with. Such hair gives a model a look that is “plain, uniform, like a mannequin” Defazio said. “I gave her a personality by cutting it.”

“Karlie’s been looking for a new look,” he said. “Her hair had been worn out from shows and shoots. Vogue called and said, ‘Would you do a cut?’ and I said Karlie should be the one to do it on.” The length, at just below the jaw, wasn’t so short as to be “out of proportion,” Defazio said, but also allowed her hair to become healthy again.

He is emphatic that it’s neither a bob nor a shag, but a one-length cut with a slight layer in the front. It’s a low maintenance look that sets off the face. “I cut it to encourage her natural wave,” Defazio said. “It’s long enough so she can gel it back, and it’s modern because it’s airy and rumpled. Short hair is in.”

Versions of the cut, with its length hovering somewhere between the chin and the shoulder, and with a few layers and fringe of bangs, has been spotted on models like Arizona Muse, Catherine McNeil, Karen Elson and Lily Kwong. The television presenter Alexa Chung has worn a similar cut for years. Margherita Missoni and Jessica Seinfeld both cut their hair into similar chops last year.